Boston Latin School drops Romulus and Remus in bid to make school logo look like every other school logo

The nation's oldest public school has replaced its old logo - which featured a representation of Romulus and Remus suckling at a wolf - with a 21st-century logo that features the current school building's facade and cupola but has no ties to the language for which the school is named, save the name of the school itself.

The Boston Latin School Association, which represents alumni and parents and raises funds for the school, explains the need for a new logo that shows the uniqueness of the school in a more modern, media-ready format:

The prominent placement of the 1635 founding date on top of the shield became an important feature to signify the unique status of the school in U.S. history. The radiating lines provide visual interest and reaffirm Latin School as a beacon of opportunity in education. The result is The Façade with Cupola logo that conveys the valuable history of Boston Latin School while remaining sleek and modern for ease of representation across all media channels.

The group adds its design firm "began the process with a competitive analysis of brand identities for Latin schools nationwide, local high schools, and those schools that feature a wolf as the team mascot."

In addition to the new logo, the design firm came up with a more stylized wolf's head to represent the BLS Wolfpack sports teams.

The association says the old logo will still be used on certain official school communications and diplomas "at the discretion of BLS/BLSA leadership."

A developer in my neighborhood is using the roman numeral for the street address to brand his 17 unit building: LIVPleasant. More than a bit ironic, as folks will be living where no one has in quite sometime. It was a funeral home.

It’s The Governor’s Academy, not The General Academy! And its original name was Dummer Academy, not The General Dummer School. You can see why they changed it... but Daan needs to check his facts. “Ahistorical,” indeed.

Just as The General Dummer School dumbed down to The General Academy...

Graphics Design-wise, yeah you're right, it is a pretty nice logo. It's clean. It's distinctive. It works well in color or black-and-white. It conform beautifully to all the "rules" and "guidelines" decades of graphic design have learned in making a visually good-looking logo.

Yet, it is also "soulless". The logo may not conform to rules. It doesn't cleverly breaks the rules either. But the old logo is a reflection of how it been it's logo from a time before we figured out how to make pretty logo. So to change it should mean there's a good reason. But there isn't. The new logo looks nice, but by conforming to looking like how so many logos look today, it ironically takes way what makes it special. It makes it look just as corporate, soulless, and basic.

Context matters. Yeah, UH have a logo that similarly follow the same design principles. But it doesn't fall in that trap it is not an almost 400 year old institution that suppose to guided by principles of more lofty ideals.

At least they are still using the logo in certain situations. Which, depending on where, can work out pretty well. The new logo for memos and sport uniform type of stuff. The old logo for certain signs and diplomas.

As someone who works in BPS, it makes me so angry that this is a story right now. The fact that BLS has a team of parents dedicated to creating a new logo and releasing an explanation shows how disconnected this school is from the realities of this city.

Some BPS elementary schools raise hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, and Boston Latin School recently raised $53 million in its capital campaign. Schools with more affluent families and access to private funding use these funds to supplement the money that they get from the state and city, widening the equity gap among BPS schools. WOULD YOU SUPPORT CHANGING CURRENT PRIVATE FUNDRAISING PRACTICES IN BPS SCHOOLS TO MAKE THEM MORE EQUITABLE?

The BLSA is governed by bylaws dating back to the late 1800s that state that all funds raised by the BLSA are explicitly for BLS. As a 501c3 raising funds for a specific school with specific purposes, that money cannot be spent elsewhere. And so while it may be politically convenient to urge sharing, it can't.

is using its money for? I thought money donated to BLSA was used for the good of the students and school. I don't think the new, bland logo helps the school or its students in any way. Why does the BLSA have anything to do with picking the school's logo? Shouldn't that be the decision of school itself or BPS?

"I thought money donated to BLSA was used for the good of the students and school. "

When I was at BLS in the early 70s, much of donated monies such as the so-called "loyalty fund" each student was required to give back then, went to then-headmaster Wilfred O"Leary's lavish dinners at the Harvard Club.

I can see it now: "Boston Latin School is your path to career success! Learn how you can unlock your future by starting your application / credit check online today!" Not exactly befitting for the oldest public school in the country.

I think it has to do with the flat, monocolor design and the fact that light is emanating from a tower.

Yeah, no, the building should not be part of the logo. My wallet is now more firmly closed than before. As an alumnus I appreciate the intent of BLSA but its lack of connection to the rest of the Boston Public Schools is getting even worse and getting harder to ignore.

How much did it cost? Did someone's parent get the contract for the design?

'The association says the old logo will still be used on certain official school communications and diplomas "at the discretion of BLS/BLSA leadership."' Does that sentence hint that someone was dragged kicking and screaming into supporting this hideousity?

It was offensive! That vile logo depicted a female wolf being drained of her precious bodily fluids, being used as an economic resource by two males, probably without her consent. Typical male predatory behavior.

It was nice the Globe credited UHub in the story (really, not being sarcastic here), but I admit I especially love that story because it mentions Universal Hub and links to this story like five times because to prove its point about people being upset about the new logo, it relies exclusively on tweets that were either replies to my original tweet/link to this article or which linked to this article.